Stephen Lendman

The battle for Mosul began last October - conducted by Iraqi ground forces and US-led warplanes.

Relentless terror-bombing killed thousands of civilians, war crimes by any standard. Residents told to remain inside were buried under the rubble of their destroyed homes.

US-installed Iraqi puppet president Haider al-Abadi lied, calling civilian deaths “miscalculations (and) unintended mistakes.”

Indiscriminate US-led terror-bombing and ground shelling destroyed or badly damaged almost every structure in western Mosul where fighting still rages.

The area resembles a moonscape with no visible life. The horror of what continues can’t be overstated. Residents still in western Mosul risk death or serious injury.

Essentials to life are absent - scant food, no potable water or medical services, no electricity or way to communicate.

People are dead, badly injured, trapped if alive and devastated - with no government, UN or other support systems available to help.

East Aleppo during last year’s campaign was paradise by comparison. Russia and Syria provided aid to residents. A humanitarian corridor was established for fortunate ones to escape, humanitarian aid awaiting those making it out safely.

None of this exists in Mosul, no government or US-led coalition help for desperate civilians - trapped in a war without mercy zone, doom awaiting many.

The Trump administration bears full responsibility for mass slaughter and destruction in Mosul, continuing without letup - shocking contempt for the lives, safety and welfare of its residents.

They fear US-led terror-bombing and ground shelling more than ISIS. That’s how bad things are, what the Pentagon and media scoundrels want suppressed.

The March 17 US terror-bombing incident claimed 531 lives - the shocking body count numbers pulled from rubble so far, according to the Iraqi Civil Defense Department.

Initially, CENTCOM lied claiming no responsibility, now admitting US-led warplanes “probably had a role” in what happened, according to Iraq and Syria commander General Stephen Townsend.

Still he lied, claiming ISIS “had a hand in this,” adding the incident “was an unintentional accident of war.”

False! It was indiscriminate terror-bombing, unconcerned about loss of civilian lives, thousands of noncombatants slaughtered during months of fighting.

Shifting blame on others for US high crimes is the last refuge of a rogue state - responsible for mass murder in multiple war theaters, civilians paying the highest price, entire families in some buildings buried under rubble.

Despite the horror of what’s gone on so far, the US-led campaign continues. Rules of engagement permittng anything goes remain unchanged, according to Townsend.

Who’ll compensate surviving Iraqi civilians for mass slaughter and destruction? Who’ll hold US war criminals accountable?

What can be done to restore peace to a war-torn region? No Nuremberg trials or Marshall Plans are forthcoming.

Devastated survivors in all US war theaters are on their own - except in Syria where its government, Russia and Iran are providing humanitarian aid, nothing from America, other countries or the UN.

The horror of endless US wars of aggression continues - the human toll of biblical proportions.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at http://www.sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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